The fiction category accounted for the largest share of total book trade sales in Germany in 2025, at percent. Children’s and young adult books were the second-largest category that year, with percent. School and educational books followed in third place with a share of percent.
Total sales and share of each sales channel
The total sales in the German book trade amounted to over billion euros in 2024. This represented growth of about percent compared with the previous year. The bricks-and-mortar book trade excluding e-commerce was the sales-strongest channel among the book trade categories, with sales of just over billion euros. However, the bricks-and-mortar book trade has suffered sales losses in recent years: sales for this channel fell from around billion euros in 2008 to the current level in 2024. The mail-order book trade, including online mail-order, was able to substantially increase its sales over the same period.
Sales and number of book buyers
The number of book buyers in Germany is declining. In 2010 there were almost million — by 2024 the number had fallen to around million buyers.